Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, doesn't have a rock star image in his country for nothing.

He is witty, spontaneous and talks passionately about the job he does. He is in short a living London tour.

On his first visit to India as the mayor of the UK capital aimed at promoting London as an investment destination, he wants to lay the foundation of a new relationship.

Johnson is bubbling with the enthusiasm of a teenager and has his eyes set on the bigger goal of replacing David Cameron as the new star of the Tories.

The former conservative MP and two-time London mayor led from the front during the Olympics. Johnson is a former journalist and an author who worked for the Daily Telegraph and served as the editor of The Spectator.

He was born in New York and moved to London when he was five years old along with his family. But Johnson now lives his London dreams through his media-savvy ways and rising global appeal.

Johnson has brought along captains of the British industry on his India trip.

"I want to expand the strategic relationship with India. India is a partner to London and the UK. We have a natural partnership which needs to expand into a new strategic relationship," Johnson told Mail Today during a conversation over a lunch hosted by him for senior media editors.

Johnson is buoyed by the success of the London Olympics. "As many as 6.9 million people visited London during the event. The best decision was to have the Olympics in east London. The whole thing was thought through from the beginning," he says.

He is keen to learn from his small audience on what can transform the relationship between the two countries, and listens patiently even as he faces a barrage of criticism of the UK's visa policy which is "hampering a vibrant partnership".

Johnson is candid in his response, "I understand people's irritation with the inadequacies of the UK's visa systemâ€¦ The sooner we fix the immigration mess the better," he says.

Underlining the importance of trade in bilateral relationships, Johnson says he wants a "new and great partnership which will help double the bilateral trade by 2015".

On the competition in trade from other European countries, he says, "We are much better than the French and the others. London is good for business..." During his six-day trip to India, Johnson will also visit Hyderabad and Mumbai.

He will also party with the England cricket team to celebrate the Test win as he zips off for his next meeting.